The Department of Defense today announced the change in status of a soldier supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom from missing-captured to deceased. The armed forces medical examiner confirmed on March 29, human remains recovered in Iraq were those of Staff Sgt. Keith M. Maupin, 24, of Batavia, Ohio. Maupin had been listed as missing-captured since April 16, 2004. His convoy came under attack by individuals using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire on April 9, 2004. He was assigned to the 724th Transportation Company, Bartonville, Ill.

I have had SSGT. Maupin's picture on the sidebar of this blog for quite awhile, and the link to the Yellow Ribbon Support Center that his parents have set up.

It is sadly now time to take Matt Maupin's picture down, but I will keep the link up.

Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers, as their hero finally comes home to be laid to rest.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

I've frequently spoken about JP Borda, of Milblogging.com , and wanted to mention once again that his currently deployed platoon, The Bad Voodoo Platoon , will be featured on a PBS Frontline Special, airing April 1.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Living Legends began in May 2005 with a very small team of seven dedicated angels. The team's mission was to let the families and friends of fallen heroes know that we were here to support them and to honor their loved one. At the same time, they had to make sure that they were sensitive to what the family was going through.

While this team has grown tremendously, they have worked very hard to maintain that same level of dedication and sensitivity. This team is staffed with trained volunteers who carry out a very difficult mission for Soldiers' Angels. Due to their dedication, Soldiers' Angels is able to honor those heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and to pay their respects and offer their deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones grieving the painful loss of their son or daughter; husband or wife; brother or sister; mom or dad; aunt or uncle; their friend.

For more information on the Soldiers' Angels Living Legends Team, you can visit their site.

Sometimes a hero is one who sacrifices everything in their life to help others. And sometimes a hero is one who sacrifices nothing more than their time.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Monday, March 24, 2008

My "usually posted on Fridays" feature....(late again, sorry!)....of news by, and about Soldiers Angels out in the blogosphere.

(My husband and I went on a short trip this past weekend to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ....which, sadly, was kind of disappointing, not at all what we had hoped/expected....and also to the Pro Football Hall of Fame ,which we enjoyed visiting a lot more :) and I ran out of time before I left, to get the 'SA web surf' posted!

btw, I just realized I've been posting these for almost a year now...it'll be a year in May, I found my very first Soldiers Angels Web Surf post back here on May 18,2007.)

On to the 'surf' :)

First of all, I hope you're still Voting for Patti in the teleflora America's Favorite Mom contest, for Most Inspirational Mom....she's in First Place right now,Hurray! (and Keep Voting,to keep her there, once a day until March 31 :)

Congratulations! are in order for Angel Roger, of Soldiers Angels-Medical Support , who recently won a "Hometown Hero" award, you can read about it here and if you scroll down the article it says:

"Vietnam veteran Roger Godskesen of Geneva won the military award for heading a team through the organization Soldiers' Angels, which gets supplies to soldiers overseas."

and there have been a number of Fallen Heroes the past few weeks, Life in the Northeast posted her "Remember..." posts both last Sunday and just yesterday

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families of the fallen.

Coming back from our trip, driving through a back road in West Virginia, we came across This, on a hillside:

The number,sadly, is already out of date, with several more soldiers killed over the weekend. And the smaller sign says "Our Honored Dead". But, I wanted to share this picture.....someone went to a greatdeal of time to plant these crosses, and maintain this, never knowing who would see it as they passed by. I don't know, nor really care, whether this person is 'pro' or 'anti' war? I was just moved to see that someone took the time to honor, and remember ,our Fallen.

This concludes my Soldiers Angels Web Surf for the week ending March 23.

which just cracked me up, because I've been reading milblogs for at least Four years now, and USA Today is just now apparently catching on that they're out there? Snort.

But, that second post Did kind of send me down 'memory lane', back to the early days of my discovery of milblogs.

When I first came across some snarky soldier named JP who was blogging from Afghanistan (on a now defunct and lost -forever- in -the -mists -of -time- blog),and later started Milblogging.com (a site USA Today is apparently Unaware of,lol:)

Now, he's also going to be a 'TV star' (watch out, Chuck Norris :) as it says over on The Sandbox (another site that USA Today didn't seem to realize was out there)

And I marveled, that some people are just now catching on to Milblogs, when reading them has taken me on such a journey these past 4 years

......from my commenting on JP's first blog, to his becoming a friend these past few years. From celebrating when he got home from Afghanistan, and when he and his wife had their second child...to gearing up with the other 'fans of JP', to send what support we could to he and his platoon as they deployed to Iraq.

I then thought about some of the Other bloggers that I first found 'way back when'.....Sean, over at Doc in the Box , who is now,Holy Cow! on his Fourth deployment! (and whom I've actually Met in person :)

Sonny, at Hokie.Us , who was deployed to Afghanistan back when JP was, and is now Also deployed a second time,to Iraq.

Even though I think it's ironic that a major newspaper would write a story about Milblogs as if they were something fresh and new, when they've been around for just as long as the War(s) in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on.....I'm still glad that Milblogs are finally getting some attention in the 'main stream media'.

Because reading the stories of those fighting these wars is, IMHO, important.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown has done something only a very few female soldiers in American history have ever done. She's been awarded the Silver Star.

Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province of Afghanistan in April 2007.

"I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there."

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said. She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out. "I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said. "So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit," she said. "I was in a kind of a robot-mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of."

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them all to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded some 500 yards away and treated them on site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation. "I did not really have time to be scared," Brown said. "Running back to the vehicle, I was nervous (since) I did not know how badly the guys were injured. That was scary."

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

My weekly 'surf' of the blogosphere for news by, and about, Soldiers Angels (a little late this week,sorry! 'real life' was hectic!)

I've got Tons of stuff to pass on this week,yay :)

But First....Have you Voted for Patti today? Don't forget! :) She's moved up to third place, all of you Rock! (and now let's head for First Place...vote Every Day, until March 31! :) As View From the 8th Floor says Your Mom Will Understand.Really.

and then links This news story McPherson Sentinal's Sentinet-News about a Witchita,KS band named "Seasons After" which is playing a benefit concert Today, with a majority of the proceeds going to Soldiers Angels! Yay:) You can find the band's MySpace profile Here

I wanted to give a Shout Out to the Newest 'Bama CTL (community team leader), and I'll keep my eye out for the web site she's setting up:)

and also say hello to a New Angel here and to another blogger who mentions she's also an Angel, here

Lastly, as she does every Sunday, Life in the Northeast tells us to Remember...

Work and Life this past week just seem to have conspired to limit my computer time,lol, so I have numerous odds and ends that I wanted to pass on, and am just now finding the time to do so.

First of all, it looks like I Won't be able to attend the 2008 Milblog Conference this year,darn. It won't be held in DC, but will be in Las Vegas, and JP of Milblogging.com announced it on March 8th (so you can see how far behind I am on getting news out,lol:)

A Fellow Soldiers Angel member and friend up in CT does a great job of passing things on to me, particularly to do with Anysoldier.com ,and she sent me this story that is posted also at this News Link on Anysoldier (scroll down the page):

" Hello everyone, this is Taylor Batten. How are you doing? I am ok, a bit sick but nothing I can't handle.

I need your help please. I am trying to get emails and cards for veterans and when I get them all, I am going to take them to local nursing homes and then the VA nursing homes and deliver them to our veterans. It doesn't have to be a holiday or Veteran's Day to say thank you to a veteran does it? I don't think so and I want our veterans to know they are appreciated. Especially our older veterans in the homes, they might not get many visitors and might not feel like they are loved. Can you help me? You can send an email back to me marked VETERAN and then we will print it out. I will cross out your email address if you want to. Or you can send a card marked VETERAN in care of Taylor Batten and I will not open the card but take it to the homes and let the veterans open them. Also if you can, pass this around to anyone you know that you might think will help me.

I will be collecting for a couple of weeks to make sure I get them all. Thank you very much if you can help me! And remember, pass this on to other people if you think they can help. It is our duty to make sure our veterans know they are appreciated and this is one way I can do that.

Thank you,

GySgt. Taylor Batten"

---------------

The 'back story' on Taylor Batten, for any of you who don't know it, can be found at One Marine's View Here

and then I also found a link to a mention of her here, she was one of the winners of the 2007 STAR Awards

The Sharing Time And Resources (STAR) Awards recognize outstanding volunteers who exemplify the essence of volunteerism. Each year, individuals and groups from the Kalamazoo County area are recognized for their volunteerism during the year.

Taylor BattenAt 13 years old, Taylor Batten has dedicated her time to showing U.S. military personnel that she supports them. The Three Rivers teen, winner of this year's Youth Volunteer STAR Award, sends cards, letters, e-mail messages and care packages to soldiers who are stationed overseas. She attends the funerals of fallen soldiers as a member of the Patriot Guard Riders. She has visited wounded Marines at the national Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Recently, Taylor held a blanket drive for the troops in Iraq and collected nearly 150 blankets to ship out. “It just popped into my mind that really anything that the troops get from home helps out a lot with their psychological well-being, and, believe it or not, it gets really cold out there,” said the Mendon Junior High School student. “It was just a good idea and it was fun to do.”

With all of her volunteer activities, Taylor does not seem to be a typical 13-year-old girl. Her health problems also set her apart. She has Turner syndrome, a chromosomal condition characterized by a partially or completely missing second sex chromosome. As a result of her condition, Taylor has impaired visual-spatial functioning, chronic-fatigue syndrome and scoliosis, has had a number of sinus surgeries and heart surgery, and is very small for her age. The STAR Award is not the first time Taylor has been honored for her efforts. In October, she was named an honorary U.S. Marine Private First Class and an honorary state-ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders. That December, she was promoted to honorary U.S. Marine Sergeant. Her volunteer activities have not been limited by her illness. She said she draws on her Marine courage to deal with it. “It's always been in me that I want to do something,” she said. “The Marine Corps motto is honor, courage and commitment. I feel that I need to keep up with that and do everything I can. I just feel like it's the right thing to do.” Currently, Taylor is raising money for Hope for the Warriors, an organization that collects money to help wounded military members and their families. Her health condition prohibits her from ever joining the Marines as an active member, but by volunteering for a cause she loves, Taylor can still be involved, said her mother and nominator, Cathy Batten. “She's looking outside of herself,” her mother said. “All this help that she's doing, she's helping others, but in the long run we think it's helping her.” By Emily Monacelli - Special to the Gazette

A very special young lady, can't you please help her help our veterans? and send her an email or card to pass along?

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

From the time he finished high school, Sgt. Steve Morin Jr. made serving in the military his career. "He always stood up for what he thought was right," Gwendolyn Michelle Morin, his wife, said. "He was a fighter. He would never give up."

"He had called me to let me know what he was going to do that day," she said. He expected to be able to call her more often because of the missions he was being assigned. Sometimes they would go 11 or 12 days between calls.

Morin enlisted in the Navy after graduating high school in his hometown of Brownfield, Texas at 17. By 34, Morin had devoted 14 years to the Navy, served in the National Guard for two and planned to attend Officers Candidate School. Morin was still in the Navy when he met his wife. At the time, the two were working for a photo company; he was Santa Claus and she was an elf, she said. Both were attending Texas Tech University.

"It was funny because we always kept running into each other. He would hang outside my classes and wait for me with a Diet Coke," recalled Gwendolyn. "He knew how to make me really happy."

Sgt. Morin died when an IED went off, overturning the vehicle he was riding in near Umm Qasr, Iraq. "He's very strong willed, very determined. Humorous, a clown, but he was also very disciplined and very passionate about what he believed in," Gwendolyn Morin said. "He always wanted to serve his country."

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

with voting going on online from March 1-March 31. It's free to register to vote, and you can vote once a day, every day until March 31. (and hey! there's weekly drawings for $100 to go to 'registered users' every week, yet Another reason to go vote for Patti every day, You could be a winner,also!!:)

(and Holly is the SA 'Blog-Mother' of so many blogging Angels....her blog is my Featured Blog of the Week this week :)

Holly is also one of the people interviewed on the Second Talking with Heroes interview from the SA Executive conference Feb.21-23, Bob from Talking With Heroes says : "Those interviewed: Blake Powers (Laughing Wolf), Holly Aho, Lynette Ronkin, Debby Frerich, Dee Jerge

The next two of the four one hour programs of interviews will air the nights of March 23rd and March 30th."

My apologies to Tanker Brothers, I'm late in passing on Aunty Brat's post For Ellicia Reid has thus far raised $800.00 towards his goal of $1800.00, as of this posting.

Willie at A German-American Friendship Bracelet blogged about Money for Soldiers Angels and the follow up to that is that $10,000.00 was raised!! Woo Hoo! as MotorcycleUSA.com reported in part of an article Here (and my husband particularly enjoyed the bikini contest photo,LOL:)

Homefront Six picked up some Blankets for Afghanistan and then says Well,poo (which sounds So much like something I would say,LOL.....anyone got any ideas to help her out?)

A fellow Soldiers Angel on MySpace has a great post up about Free Mail (mail that you receive from someone deployed) and, speaking of MySpace, it's not specifically SA-related, but have you seen this?

On March 10th, 2008 Operation MySpace will bring the troops in Kuwait and all of MySpace a LIVE show in Kulabyte HD that they’ll never forget. Disturbed, Pussycat Dolls, Jessica Simpson, Filter, Carlos Mencia, Metal Sanaz, DJ Z-Trip AND MORE will all be a part of this spectacular event that will be streamed LIVE only on MySpace at 11:00AM PST / 2:00 PM EST at http://www.myspace.com/operationmyspace

Lastly, as always, Life in the Northeast posted this past Sunday for us to

"They succeeded where lesser men failed," said Chaplain Robert Glazener. "They proved themselves in ways that men out there who never served, never volunteered, never sacrificed, would never understand. They sought neither glory nor special recognition, but they gained both by their actions. They are the true American heroes today and deserve more honor than we can humbly bestow on them." The helicopter carrying the men went down seven miles east of the Bagram Air Base while on a training mission.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

I was finally able to get Elaine, my Soldiers Angels Wounded TLC Team Leader, to send me a short summary of how She got involved with the Wounded TLC team and a little bit about herself :)

So here, in her own words, is Elaine :

In March of 2004 after clicking on a link from a joke list at www.ernieshouseofwhoopass.com Ernie himself is a vet and a big supporter of the troops and at the time I was annoyed at our media and their portrayal of our troops. I did not want to just sit back and not do anything. Little did I know how one little click could change your future. That little click opened up a whole new world that I knew absolutely nothing about. I had never been around anyone in the military and today I can tell you the orders of rank, what abbreviations stand for and the major zipcodes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In November 2004 the Wounded TLC Team was started and I volunteered to help get our wounded requests out to the team. We had a dozen angels and 4 names of soldiers that had been hurt that we sent mail to. The team has since evolved from just sending mail to helping provide laptops with the Valour IT program, helping families with their needs that come up when dealing with catastrophic injuries, and providing needed items to the Combat Support Hospitals overseas. Our team also works hand-in-hand with the Blankets of Hope project getting blankets to our soldiers as well as a first response backpack for the soldiers arriving at the hospitals with nothing but what they shipped out of Iraq with. Sometimes that consists of a partial uniform and that's it!

In 2006 what we were doing was made a little more personal for me. A lady that my husband worked with asked about a box set up to collect goodies for the soldiers that I was sending overseas and she told him, "I know you guys, my nephew arrived in Germany and got one of your backpacks all he had was a his shirt!" I'm not in a major metropolis I'm about 2 hours south of St. Louis in a small town but everything we were doing was made really clear!

And with all those other projects the Wounded TLC team itself has grown in leaps and bounds. We have over 1100 team members from across the United States and across the world. We send well over 5,000 cards a month to wounded soldiers/veterans and cards in bulk to be distributed to our wounded in the hospitals overseas. In March the team sent mail to over 100 wounded heroes just to let them know they are not forgotten.

It has been amazing and something I'm so proud to have become a part of these past few years. I have seen complete strangers just step up and help because someone says, "I need you." It is a constant reminder of the good that is out there! I'm proud to be part of Soldiers Angels, and so happy that I can be a small help to one person out there who needs a smile or two.

---------------------------------------

Thank you,Elaine, for all that you do for the Wounded TLC Team, and for our wounded soldiers, and their families!

and this morning, I had THE most amazing thing happen, when I learned that I got Linked by.... The Mudville Gazette's Dawn Patrol (for my weekly Soldiers Angels Web Surfing post.)

The Mudville Gazette was one of the first milblogs I ever started reading, back in 2004. They are HUGE in the milblogging world, and for me to get linked by the Dawn Patrol is, for me, the most exciting honor this little blog has ever had!! My heartfelt Thanks! to Mrs. Greyhawk, for linking me!!

and also to Greta ,over at Hooah Wife and Friends , because she's the one who brought my Soldiers Angels Web Surf posts to Mrs. Greyhawk's attention!

Back when I first started blogging, I would Never have Dreamed that someday I'd get a link like this!! Woo Hoo! I'm on Cloud 9 today, what a great present to get just in time to celebrate two years of blogging!! :)

About Me

Wife of an Army vet, daughter of an Army vet, granddaughter of a Navy vet,proud niece of an Army nurse who served in Vietnam,mother of 3 and stepmother to a currently serving Army MP..believe wholeheartedly in supporting our troops and veterans! Grandmother to 2 beautiful boys,love my life:)